What If There WERE No New Customers? Dance With the One That Brung Ya.

Marketing legend Roger Craver opened last Thursday’s Fundraising Success Virtual Conference with this question: What If There Were No New Donors? Roger figured the solution would be to start loving the donors you have.

His longer message (found here) advised marketers to focus on retention and other strategies to make current customers/donors feel special. In other words, Dance With the One That Brung Ya.

Roger’s point adds up to the second time today that CUSTOMER SERVICE has blared across the marketing radar.

This morning I tweeted a terrific little article titled “Twenty customer care actions that build sales.” None of the recommended behaviors is new or surprising. Yet, how many of these “must-dos” actually get done?

Marketers can do better.

Maybe you believe the economy will recover or maybe you don’t. Whichever: You’ve got everything to gain and nothing to lose by shifting resources to the folks who already do business with you.

More thoughts on shifting marketing attention to customers:

• On June 2, 1to1 Media is offering a free webinar, Using Customer Intelligence as a Strategic Weapon. Note: This is about customer intelligence, not acquisition.

• Marketing Vox reports that -- if Facebook advertisers revolt against privacy intrusions of their customers -- the money drain could cripple Facebook. Maybe Facebook will walk away with a slight limp, but if a monster this big can be brought down, well... what does that say about the rest of us?

• Harvard Business Review has advice for online communities. All deal with customer initiatives.

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Can We Ignore Somebody on Social Media and Get Away With It?

Many months ago I started following a popular blogger. It was back in the early days of Twitter and, like me at the time, he didn’t have many followers. We struck up a sort of collegial online relationship. Some time later, he told me I was one of the first people to ever leave a comment on his blog. Over the months, I’ve retweeted him many times and I’ve watched my “friend’s” following grow … really grow. He has over 10,000 followers now.

This week he blogged on a topic that interested me so I retweeted him and also left a comment on his blog post. But a funny thing happened.

Though my colleague thanked a slew of people for RT-ing him, he left me off the thank-you list. And, although I wrote a thoughtful comment, he reached out to the commenters above and below me, but never mentioned my contribution. That’s two “oversights,” which is one too many.

I still think this guy has interesting stuff to say and his tweets are great. I’ll probably continue to follow him (probably), but now – when I see him across the room – I won’t see a friend. I’ll see somebody on a business mission. Through my social media glasses he looked like a colleague I knew personally, but I was wrong.

All this got me to thinking about social media generally, and corporate social media in particular. Are we raising our customers' expectations too high? Are we promising something that Dunbar's Number will never allow us to deliver?

Marketers have been groomed to expect something different (more personal) from social media than from other business transactions. The experts keep telling us that social media is a “conversation,” that it’s about “feedback” and “commentary” and “interaction.”

If that’s the expectation we’re raising with customers and “fans," we’d better live up to it, because – on social media -- I've learned that it only takes a missed heartbeat for people to see us differently.

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Writers, take heart. Business needs you.

Arianna had a great post on April 26 "Huffington Post" titled "Not All Jobs Are Created Equal: Why Wall Street's Gain Has Been America's Lost."

It’s little consolation to be reminded that the middle class has disproportionately lost jobs in this recession -- or to realize that among the hardest hit are professionals associated with the publishing industry, particularly writers and editors. This highly competitive marketplace is squeezing everybody and writers are in a frontline ringer.

However …

… the same economy that has dumped print publications wholesale also is scrambling for solid "content" on an explosion of websites, blogs, social media like Twitter, and online newsletters. Business needs you now, more than ever. If you’re freelance, all the better. Cash strapped organizations need help from creatives equipped to work part-time and off-site.

The trend to contract work opens opportunities for not only writers, but also editors (superb at content aggregation), designers (to make all the social media “look good”), and – especially – folks who know their way around a camera and video editing software.

To find work, you’ll need to do three things: a) help businesses pinpoint their need b) demonstrate how you can be of service c) get the pricing right.

New, but not new, right?

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Machine generated content Is Here. Big Whoop. Real writers are safe.

A provocative little article appeared in the April 29 issue of Businessweek. The magazine was reporting on Narrative Science, a five-month-old company in Evanston, IL, that specializes in “machine-generated content.” Businessweek challenged readers to decide which of three sentences was written by the Narrative Science computer, and which were written by a human being.

At first glance I couldn’t tell whether I was reading man or machine. The pertinent information and facts appeared in all three versions. Even the verbs were snappy, like the copy a sports writer might produce (sports writers are some of the most brilliant practitioners of the art). Still, I felt confident that -- if I thought about the content of what I was reading -- I could make the right pick. I did.

The giveaway? This machine can write competently, but it can't pull in the little "extras" that characterize what a writer brings to the story. Sports Hal doesn't understand that Iowa "dropped the finale." He has no idea that Ray Fisher Stadium is "historic." In short, Sports Hal can string facts together, but he has no idea how to contribute thoughtful observations or place facts into a larger context (at least not yet). Narrative Science is "just the facts, ma'am."

Don't misunderstand, please. I admire, applaud, and pay due respect to Narrative Science. In fact, this company surely is amazing. But as a writer, I came away from the test relieved and reminded once again what real writers do, namely: think, entertain, clarify, provoke, and link us into something larger.

Alexander A. Pyles, sports writer, points to the perfect example in his reaction to sports-by-computer when he says, “Ever read Hunter S. Thompson’s account of the 1970 Kentucky Derby? It’s widely considered some of the best sports writing in American history and includes nary a mention of the race itself. Think a computer could do something like that?”

Surprisingly, I found precious little on the Internet about Narrative Science. Their website lands on a “contact” page and only a few references to the company show up on Google.

Chris Biondi, manager of newsroom development at GateHouse News Service, uncovered a bit more in his post, most particularly a peek at the “full story, not bylined, but “Powered by Narrative Science.” Biondi concurs with Pyle in saying, “You can read a lot into a story like this and imagine how it may affect our industry. But the answer to Businessweek's compelling headline - "Are Sportswriters Really Necessary?" - is clearly, yes, as are writers who cover crime, health and business.”

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Four Practical Reasons Your Business Needs A Facebook Fan Page

I’m not a not a heavy Facebook user. In fact, I both dislike and worry about Facebook as a personal communication choice. Still…I did set up a fan page for Marketing Brillo over a year ago.

At the time, I didn't know what I was doing or even why I was doing it. But -- as a marketing professional -- I did understand that I would be able to learn certain things about social media only in the doing.

Very recently I found myself seeking out corporate Facebook pages during research. That helped me understand the important differences – and advantages – that characterize Facebook in the social media arena.

1. Pretty much everybody knows what Facebook is and how to use it – no instructions required. Facebook says 400 million active users spend 500 billion minutes per month on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics

2. People are accustomed to talking to one another on Facebook, so they’ll talk to you, too. They chat, leave little comments, get friendly with strangers, feel right at home. There’s no other stopping place where exchange happens in quite the same way or to the same degree. Not your website; not Twitter; not email; not LinkedIn, not anything. For chitter-chattering, Facebook beats ‘em all.

3. Facebook adds a personality to your corporate name and a “who” to your brand. Advertising does that, too… but advertising costs a lot. Lil ol’ Facebook offers no better way – at least not yet -- to communicate corporate culture. Who’s stopping by, what sorts of comments are people making, how are you responding? Do you have a sense of humor, are you genuine and open, are you approachable, are you sincere? Only Facebook knows (and shows) for sure.

4. Increasingly, Facebook fan pages are where people go to sniff you out. Websites may contain much of the same “information” as a fan page, but – for millions of daily users -- no other spot has the same familiar "look" as Facebook. Everybody feels comfortable checking you out -- your employees, their families and friends, prospective employees, past and retired employees – plus all of the above in the customer category.

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Got Problems? A Project Manager Is Both Cause and Cure.

"Manager" is one of those titles into which people are promoted out of positions like "administrator" or "assistant" .. at which point most employees in today's title-ridden corporate culture can't wait to stop being a "manager" in order to become a "director" or a "vice president." Face it: declaring yourself a "project manager" earns lackluster response compared to the worshipful gazes cast on database -- or even social media -- folks. That's too bad because -- IF you really can "manage projects," IF you can conceive and successfully execute them, start to finish -- you're increasingly rare and deeply valuable.

The Recession Killed Middle Management Years Ago
Sometime in the early 80s , middle managers became obsolete. In that recession, Chiefs and Indians stayed, while mid-range Buffalo Hunters left in droves. Writing on bNet, Wharton Management Professor Peter Cappelli noted, "Downsizings during the 1980s took a disproportionate toll on managers. For corporations, the fallout is weakened allegiances and a threat to productivity ... Such efforts frequently 'thin' the management ranks while transferring managerial responsibilities elsewhere in the organization."

At the time he wrote this in 1992, Cappelli said, "Job security for managers has continued to erode: The unemployment rate for managers soared 55 percent last year, while overall unemployment climbed just 13 percent."

Time didn't reverse the free fall. David Lynch writing for USA Today in January this year confirmed the scars that linger after a savage recession. The visible disfigurement from the 80s recession is the dearth of middle managers who know how to take a project from A to Z. In my experience, that wasteland has left many organizations floundering in piecemeal goo.

Good Project Managers Are Both Born and Made
A Google search on "project manager skills" turns up considerable discussion of what makes a good project manager. Apparently, some project management skills are inherent within personality, while others get honed "on the job." Few seem to sprout from "education." For example, Asan Sofian's report, Project Success in Relation with Organizational Roles and Capabilities and Project Managers' Skills and Capabilities, cites the three key process skills as:
• the ability to communicate
• knowing how to handle costs
• practicing effective time management.

Key interpersonal skills of a good project manager include:
• leadership
• effective communication
• the ability to motivate.

Vital personal traits are:
• professional integrity
• personal integrity
• decisiveness.

In short, project manager essentials boil down to a heavy dose of integrity and a firm grip on communication. If the famous Peter Principle -- "In a Hierarchy Every Employee Tends to Rise to His Level of Incompetence" -- is true, then the best managers tend to get stuck in the middle. Unfortunately, 30 years ago, thousands of middle managers were escorted out of the building and never replaced. So where does that leave organizations in the first decade of the 21st century? Adrift.

What can we do about it?

1. Acknowledge that project management is Mandatory Skill Number One for project success.

2. Rely less on "credentials" and more on a track record of proven project management aptitude. The next time you launch a project, see if somebody in your organization has Asan's essential skills and give that person a shot .... or, as Jim Collins would say, "The most effective leaders of companies in transition are the quiet, unassuming people whose inner wiring is such that the worst circumstances bring out their best. They're unflappable, they're ready to die if they have to. But you can trust that, when bad things are happening, they will become clearheaded and focused."

3. Recruit for the character and personality strengths that make a good project manager [see above] ..

4. Hire the better writer. Note: The April 12 edition of Newsweek featured an article titled "Chaos Theory" by the whiz kids who founded 37Signal. Their #2 Rule for succeeding in business without really trying is -- and I quote -- "HIRE THE BETTER WRITER: Clear writing is a sign of clear thinking."

5. Demand the ability to multi-task. Business executive F. John Reh says, "A successful Project Manager must simultaneously manage the four basic elements of a project: resources, time, money, and most importantly, scope. All these elements are interrelated. Each must be managed effectively. All must be managed together if the project, and the project manager, is to be a success."

6. Compensate the project manager who produces. Applaud and value a gifted project manager's contribution.

7. If the project manager you currently have is a clear thinker, a clear communicator, a respected leader, a marvel of organization, planning, and scheduling, and a proven leader, give that star a raise. If not, replace him or her. Or, as Jim Collins would say, "It is better to first get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats, and then figure out where to drive."

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Today's NEW Marketing Report (For Today Only)

Saturday's email and Twit-fodder spotlighted trends in today's marketing ("today" being April 17; this will all change tomorrow).

1. We've gone to the movies.. the SHORT movies. Meet the irresistible Loic Le Meur and his report of YouTube mastery. Loic describes himself as a "French entrepreneur who lives in San Francisco, and is founder of Seemic and LeWeb conference." Loic told Twitter followers that he's posting a new YouTube daily, getting 3,000 hits a day, and has logged 1.7 million views. I believe it. This guy rocks (today). See a sample here.

2. Coupons Are Selling Us Out. Comrade Gabe Goldberg linked to a New York Times article that reported on information-gathering (some might say "spying") capabilities of online coupon vendors. If you're inclined to paranoia, don't read this -- especially the part that says barcodes on some of these coupons have the user's Facebook information embedded. (Does that include the office party photos? Ooops.)

3. Banks Want To Talk To Us. Well, they don't really want to talk to us; they want to "connect" with us online. (No, not in line; they don't want to talk to us at all in line. Online. Get it?) The Marketing Vox reports that banks are turning to social media to make "real, live" connections with customers. The horse left through the barn door long ago on that one, guys, but ... Bank of America's is reportedly using "many different strategies" to build -- or rebuild -- conversations with customers. (I suggest checking in with Frank Eliason, who's tweeting as "comcastcares" to see how that's working out.)

4. Social Media Friends Aren't All That. Writing on SmartBlog, Jesse Stanchak reports on Edleman's 2010 survey that says peers trust one another 20% less than they did in 2008. Edelman blames the recession, but Stanchak says social media may have redefined whom we consider peers, to wit: "The challenge is clear: We have a long way to go in understanding how relationships are formed, what they’re based on and how influence spreads. For now, we only know that consumers are becoming more discerning." (And just when we thought it was safe to go on Twitter...)

Speaking of social media gone bad, could "live, present, and in person" be the hot new secret marketing weapon? You heard it here first. And that's enough shocking news for one day.

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